ARTIST NAME: Melissa Salazar
SONG TITLE: Like It Never Started
ALBUM TITLE: What Happens
RELEASE DATE: 28 April 2020
GENRE: Neo-soul/Soul
Website
iTunes
Spotify
Explain how to overcome a writer’s block.
I have not had writer’s block yet, and if I did, I read poems and listen to other music, and like to go for walks. This all helps to find some inspiration.
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Tell us the tricks behind making a hit song.
I’m not sure I have had a hit song yet, but it’s nice to know people like my music.
I think it is about your songwriting and doing something new, and the secret I feel remains in the repetition of a sentence or a word.
I think a good or successful song is the one that gets stuck in people’s heads!
A good example of this kind of lyric repeating is the chorus in Ellie Goulding – Love Me Like You Do.
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Tell us how you get feedback for your demo before working on it.
My record labels CEO (Scoop) of Live & Dangerous Records pitches my music to the presidents of different labels inside Universal Music, Warner Music, and non- president people at Sony Music get my music too, so he makes sure people know about me in the big 3.
On my side, I will send a message presenting my project with my demos to people, then I send a reminder a week later if I don’t have an answer.
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Explain your recording experience in the studio.
I went to New York to record the music after I was discovered online by music legend Bob Leone (Who discovered Lana Del Rey and managed Lady Gaga).
This was the start of one of the most incredible experiences in my musical career so far as I worked with 2X Grammy winner and music legend and music executive Robert Cutarella (Joss Stone, Cyndi Lauper, Eric Clapton, EMI, CBS Sony Music).
Everything was so fluid and so natural when we worked together, and I believe this is why people have really loved what we created.
I had an incredible feeling that I found my sound in the music industry, and I think it is slowly showing.
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Tell us how you compose.
I have several ways of composing my music, either I start with the melody or with the lyrics and often I am alone to avoid anything disturbing me, and I often listen to the music in a loop. It allows me to concentrate better…
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Tell us if you add effects to your vocals to sound better.
I just add a slight reverb to add more depth to give me a better and live sounding feel, and then I leave it up to the amazing talent of Robert Cutarella, he then works his magic.
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Tell us the best streaming platform to get new fans.
Spotify without any shadow of a doubt. It’s the absolute leader of the streaming platforms I believe, and they have 130 million subscribers so that helps.
People are always searching for new artists to listen to, and I am seeing this by being added to over 50 public playlists on just my 3rd ever release. Thanks to all the people supporting me in their playlists.
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Tell us your opinion on music education.
I would say that music education is the key, and it is necessary to train the musicians of tomorrow.
As far as I am concerned, I believe I wouldn’t be doing this well if I had not studied at a music school to give me the knowledge I have today.
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Discuss the shooting of a commercial music video for a song.
It’s a very exciting experience to have a team working on the music and vision you created, and the hardest part can be to put your emotions on camera and be believable, it is a real acting game!
I filmed my clip ‘What Happens’ in Paris and it was a lot of fun to look for the places where to shoot the scenes. I loved having my makeup done, and the coolest thing is to see the end result when it all comes together, and everyone who was part of it can walk away with some pride.
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Tell us how you interact with other artists.
Most of them are personal relations, but also social networks are excellent to create new professional connections.
The trick is to support others and doesn’t just make it just about what you do.
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Tell us if you can collaborate with an artist of a different genre.
I’ve never done that yet, but it would be a very good experience to mix my style with Indian or flamenco music!
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Explain how to finance a music project.
We have not spent a penny on the marketing budget for my latest releases and I did 10,000 streams in 7 days and went from a few people to 7000 monthly listeners on Spotify in just 7 days too. It is all about the people around you and your team and everyone having the same vision and end goal, in my team it is The CEO of my label, Scoop, Robert Cutarella, Jason Howard, Jay Stansfield, and Matt Schipsi.
If the artist cannot find a way to finance their own project and is not lucky enough to have an amazing team then there are options.
Crowdfunding campaigns or a Record label may have the resources to invest in your music.
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Explain how to copyright a musical work.
Well, the first thing I did was print all the lyrics to all my songs and then recorded all of the tracks to a CD (I then sent everything to my home address,) and OF COURSE, I WILL NEVER OPEN THIS MAIL IF I DO IT WILL LOSE ALL ITS LEGAL VALUE!
Then in my case, I registered it with “SACEM” (in France.) This also keeps my copyright with them secured.
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Tell us how to generate income from a musical work.
There are many ways to generate income and therefore it is important to register your work with a music society if you can, (in France it is the SACEM) who collects your income for some royalties.
A good record label will pay you when you make enough money from your streaming and downloading income for (Spotify/Deezer/Apple Music / Napster etc.)
There is huge debate thou that these streaming sites do not pay enough, and I am inclined to agree here. Then there are live shows and publishing that can bring huge income in.
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List the name of organizations you know can be helpful to new artists.
There are loads of great distribution companies who work with signed and indie artists like Spinnup Universal Music, Level Music (Warner Music,) and AWAL (Kobalt Music)
There are some excellent places to find opportunities like Song Link, Bandit Newsletter, Songtradr, Sentric Music, and Music Gateway. I have left a few examples below.
Distributions
Spinnup Distribution part of (Universal Music Group.)
AWAL Distribution (Part Of Kobalt Music.)
Placement Opportunities
Song Link.
Bandit Newsletter.
Songtradr.
Music Gateway.
Sentric Music.
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Explain the process involved in recording a vocal.
A smartphone can do the job for getting rough ideas down, but after you have the vibe going you need to buy a good microphone and use a music program to record it into. (You can download Audacity for free.)
A lot of vocalists who record at home are using something called Garage Band, but if you have a friend with a decent home studio or the money then go to a proper studio as they will do a good job on vocals, however, a home studio can do just as well.
I would also like to say, find producers who can pitch your vocals too, the greatest singers in the world like Whitney Houston and Etta James have pitching on their vocals, it is so important to do that every time or your music will not sound the best it can be, and this can damage you to the major labels A&R.
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Elaborate on the song.
First, I will find the subject and feel the vibes of the music then I start to give the lyrics shape to the music. There are no rules really, it can happen in many ways.
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Elaborate on your artist’s name and the title of the album.
My artist name is my real name. I have decided to keep it because I find that it has character.
To really connect with your fans, you must be someone they can relate to as if they had just met you at a show or in the streets.
The title of the album is the same as the leading song “What Happens”, however, due to this awful virus we are going to only do single releases though, as I am not sure when the studios will be opened again.
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Send a message to your fans.
Thank you so much for your love and support, I am thrilled to know you like my music and you can find more music on Spotify of mine and let’s connect on Social Media…
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Share your press release and review with us.
‘Live And Dangerous Records’, a label distributed by both Spinnup (Universal Music & AWAL Kobalt Music) presents 24-year-old Franco-Spanish singer-songwriter Melissa Salazar, a new 24-year-old Franco-Spanish singer-songwriter, who starts turning the heads in the music industry.
Her deep and powerful voice, her Soul musical style with nuances of Jazz, blues, and New-Soul and the influences of his idols like Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, or Amy Winehouse, grants her with a surprising vocal identity.
Over the years ‘Live and Dangerous Records’ have run national campaigns with unknown artists leading them to score within the top 20 in the Music Week charts and above some major labels and names.
The label is all about supporting and giving unsigned and indie artists a voice to the major labels who may not notice them yet, and the major labels see them as the bridge to the unsigned and Indy world.
When Live & Dangerous Records listened to her music, they knew within 30 seconds that they wanted to work with her. Their first-ever meeting was incredible, as Scoop brought on the music legend, Peter Rafelson.
Peter Rafelson was instrumental in the Career of music Icon Madonna, and Peter co-wrote Madonna – Open Your Heart. He has also been involved in 30 number 1 records and sold over 300 million worldwide records. To have names like Peter Rafelson, Robert Cutarella, Bob Leone and a full team behind her music is very unusual for an emergent artist.
Since being with the label she has released two tracks ‘What Happens’, and ‘Like It Never Started’ distributed by Spinnup Universal Music London, and in a very short time she has been seeing amazing results, including major growth with the first song she put out on her own called ‘Leave Me Alone.’
As briefly mentioned above, we have seen a huge amount of buzz and attention on her music on Spotify since she joined to Live And Dangerous Records, getting to reach near 10,000 monthly listeners on Spotify in just 4 weeks, and over 23,000 streams across her music so far.
More!
Melissa Salazar was born in 1995 in Tenerife in the Canary Islands, where her maternal family have their origins for twenty generations, and Parisian by her father.
She arrived in Paris at the age of 3, hardly speaking few words of French. Singing quickly becomes her mean of expression. Her primary school teacher already noted in her school notebooks: “Melissa has a very pretty voice, the intensity of which she has little control over! “.
Graduated in 2016 in Vocal Jazz and after her first concerts in the most legendary Parisian Jazz-Clubs (Baiser-Salé, Café Universel, Sunset-Sunside…), she was discovered in 2018 by Bob Leone (who discovered Lana del Rey and managed the beginnings of Lady Gaga …).
